Light Rail and Downtown Revitalization

Twenty years ago, Portland's central business district was a typical tired downtown, with fading retail and rising office vacancy rates, when compared to suburban office parks. Today, the light rail system, MAX, carries 50,000 passengers a day to a downtown rated as one of the most livable in America. Office vacancy rates are now lower than suburban ones, and rents are higher. The best, most attractive retail in the region is in Portland's downtown. Over $2 billion of development has been constructed around downtown station areas.

There's no overstating the message that streetcars and light rail are economic development tools, not just transportation modes. From the monograph:

From its very inception, the streetcar [in Portland] was seen first and foremost as a redevelopment tool. Its backers organized a nonprofit corporation that built and now operates the line. The corporation is made up of developers, retailers and property owners, as well as city government officials. They have succeeded.

I'm tired of people, especially at city hall, saying, 'downtown will never be what it once was. Retail will never come back.'

Downtown will go as far or lag behind as much as they allow it to. It's time for this city to get some leadership and vision.

Jason Leach was born and raised in the Hammer and currently lives downtown with his wife and children. You can follow him on twitter.

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The report also looks at buses (even buses that have been "styled" so they don't look like buses) and concluded that they're just not as successful as light rail / streetcars at attracting riders or spurring investment. "people can still detect a diesel bus, and rightly or wrongly, many middle and upper-income Americans avoid riding buses."

Additionally, the conversion to two way on James Street has indeed helped to revitalize business interests in that area. The traffic calming project on King between Wellington and John has also breathed some new life into that stretch of road. Now is our chance to spend some long overdue provincial money on transportation. The point isn't that LRT will solve all of our problems. The point is that it will only help... and we need to make sure we take this "gift", use it wisely, and don't squander it on half-assed solutions.

I vote down for offensiveness and up for humour. I cast no votes based on my level of agreement.

also, keep in mind that the rate of return on investment in other cities that have built LRT systems is mind boggling.
no other project ever built by the city will garner such massive investment from the private sector. I think we'd all agree that Hamilton could use that, especially from Mac to Eastgate.